By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
City politicians and civil servant won both games of an amiable Valentine’s Day hockey tournament against Laval high school students.
The purpose of friendly match was to send a simple message to Laval youth: Stay in school!
The adults played their first game against the Commission scolaire de Laval’s M13 Gladiators team. With the score tied at the close of the match the outcome had to be decided by a shootout on goal, ending with a score of 6-5.
In the second game, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board (SWLSB) team composed the top players from Chomedey’s Laval Liberty High School and Laurier Senior High School, valiantly parried city hall to a tie, likewise going down to an overtime defeat 4-3, following a shootout.
“It was a fun way to reprise our successful softball game last summer, in order to draw attention to student retention,” Team Laval left forward and executive committee chairman David de Cotis told The Suburban. “SWLSB received $1,500 toward that goal.
“It seemed like a perfect time to repeat the experience, on ice,” he said.
The young students gave Team Laval quite a run for its money, despite the city team being managed and coached by elected officials with considerable hockey experience. “Mayor Marc Demers prodded us to victory as our general manager. He was quite dissatisfied with our loss during the softball match,” quipped de Cotis. “Our coach, Jacques St. Jean, trained former Canadiens right winger Mike Bossy, and 13-year veteran NHL referee and Laval native Richard Trottier oversaw the two games.”
SWLSB chair Jennifer Maccarone took the loss in stride.
“When it comes to school perseverance, everyone’s on the same team, so we’re all winners—and we’ll get them next year!” she told The Suburban via text message.
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